Rappler Talk Thursday with President Aquino

Risks and Lessons (Part 1)

MANILA, Philippines – Rappler talks to the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III in this special edition of #TalkThursday.

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa delves deep into the man whose stewardship made the country the 3rd fastest growing economy in the world. What makes the leadership of this president different?

He talks about his insights into the dynamics between the powerful and the powerless in the story of an urban poor railroad community he visited as a congressman- Kalye Onse. How did the presidency change him?

Aquino explains his motivations as a public servant, the risks he took in prosecuting ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona, and what it will take to change the status quo.

He also talks about the toughest decisions he made as president, including a candid admission on his shooting buddy, former DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno.

Steering PH economy (Part 2)

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino is leading an economy currently considered as one of the fastest growing in the world.

In a special edition of TalkThursday, Rappler’s business news head Lala Rimando discusses with the president how he is steering an economy that is expected to growth up to 6% in 2012.

President Aquino also discusses challenges to sustain this pace of growth, including delays in the infrastructure projects, changes in the Constitution, and ensuring a level playing field.

He singles out the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project, which links the tollways north and south of Manila, as an infrastructure project he would like to inaugurate and drive on while he is still president.

He shares his views on two contentious industries that are playing out or will be tackled in Congress — the sin tax and mining reform bills. He explains why sin tax is a priority and mining is not.

He also talks about businesses and personalities, including food giant Jollibee Corp founder Tony Tan Caktiong, property billionaire Andrew Tan, and touches on the seeming competition for government projects between the groups led by Manuel V. Pangilinan and Ramon Ang. He says arrogance in a leader makes it difficult for him to converse with them.

Watch the livestream on Rappler.com October 18, 2012 at 4:00PM.

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Source: Rappler. Risk and Lesson, 17 October 2012. | Steering PH Economy, 18 October 2012.